Saturday of the 10th week in ordinary time
1 Kings 19: 19-21 Mathew 5: 33-37
Theme: Do not swear
In the gospel reading of today from St. Mathew, Jesus tells us that we should not swear for any reason, you don’t have to do that to convince anyone about whatever you may have said. He encourages us rather to be sincere in our assertions, such that when we mean yes, we should say yes and when we mean no, we should say no. The admonition presented to us today is the issue of sincerity in our dealings with one another. If we tell each other the truth, there will be no need for us to begin to swear, just to convince each other that we are saying the truth about any given situation under discussion. We all have something to learn from the gospel reading of today, this is because it is a practice that is common amongst us in our human relationships. This is simply because we find it difficult to trust one another for one reason or the other. Jesus is saying to all of us today, let your yes be yes and your no be no. When there is sincerity in our human relationships, there will be trust and there will be no need for doubt that will lead us to swearing to convince the other person. Jesus also made it very clear that swearing is from the evil one and not from God, so we are all encouraged to desist from swearing in our human relationship with one another.
In the 1st reading of today, we see how the prophet Elijah gave his mantle to Elisha. This was Gods way of calling and empowering Elisha to be his own prophet amongst his people, just like the prophet Elijah. This incident points out the fact that no one calls himself into the mission of God, he calls you and empowers you for the mission entrusted to you. That is why no one takes this honour upon himself; it is simply a gift from God that no man gets out of personal merit. An important question we all need to reflect on today is, the gift of God that he has given to you, what are you doing with it now? It is given to you for the greater glory of God and for the good of humanity. Let us use them effectively for service and for the good of all. The gifts God has given to you, must not be limited to you, your family, and friends. It must go beyond this group to people who are not connected to you in anyway but need help that you can render.
Just like the prophets Elijah and Elisha used their gifts to work for the people and to the greater glory of God. If we all can practice it in our daily lives, it will make our world a better place for us all. May the Lord bless his words in our hearts, in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, Amen. Peace be with you.